Our First Book Review

You’ve come at the perfect time! I am adding children’s book reviews to B.A. Bookworm and today will be the very first one. These reviews won’t be from my perspective however, they will be lovingly crafted for you by my children.

Book reviewed by: Boo Boo

Bio: My name is Boo Boo and I love to play with my family. My favorite book is called The Trip. My hobbies are dancing, reading, drawing and riding my bike and my favorite foods are whatever my mom makes.

Bio: (Written by Mom) Boo Boo is the youngest of my four children and my only girl. She is 7 years old and in second grade. She loves to smile and  snuggle and help people out whenever she can. She is 90% angel and 10% diva, most of the time. All of the other times she is 100% diva!

Title: The Magical Ballet SlippersAuthor: Nick Ellsworth

Illustrator: Veronica Vasylenko

This book is about a ballerina named Fluer that lost her magical ballet slippers. It was a good thing that she had good friends to help her find them. But, her friends were so tempted by the ballet shoes magic that they couldn’t keep them away from their feet!

I think this book is a really great book! I pretty much think that it is a good book to read any time. If your daughter likes ballet this would be a great book to borrow or even buy.

I’ve had a lot of fun reading this book by myself, but today my mom read the book to me while I did the actions! It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of exercise too.

This book is especially fun to read with a parent/parents.

I think Boo Boo nailed it for her first book review. I kept this as close as possible to how she wrote it. However, I did remove a few of her exclamation points since she was really excited and used them a lot!!!!!!!

Let’s Play!

Riddle Search

I love activities where reading and movement come together. How about a game that involves following directions, counting, big & little movements and reading? Not enough? What if I told you that the reading involved is reading riddles? I’ll bet I’ve got your attention now! More importantly, I’ll bet you’ll have your child’s attention with this cool game.

Write Down Several Funny Riddles

First write several riddles on a piece of paper. Write the words large enough for your child to read them clearly. Use the kind of riddles that ask a question and have an answer. Those work best for this activity. Riddles for kids can easily be found by doing a google search, but for fun I’ve collected a few here as an example:

• Why did the cake like to play baseball?   Because it was a good batter!
• What do sea monsters eat?    Fish & Ships.
• Why did the banana go to the doctors?   Because he was not peeling well.
• What do moths study in school?  Mothematics!

Cut & Separate Riddle Questions & Answers

Next separate the riddle questions from the answers using scissors.

Place The Riddle Questions & Answers Around The House

Go around your house and place (or hide) each riddle question with the corresponding answer positioned somewhere close by it. The point is for the child to find each answer shortly after finding the related question.

Make A Riddle Guide

After you’ve got all of the riddles in place you’ll need to fill out a paper to give your child as a guide to finding all the riddles. List three or four riddles for your child to find. Your riddle guide will read something like this:

• Hop 5 times to the couch. (Question is found there)
• Now spin 2 times to other side of the couch. (Answer is found there)
• Next take 25 baby steps to reach the kitchen table. (Question is found there)
• Take 2 giant leaps to the kitchen chair. (Answer is found there)

Have Fun Finding All The Riddles

Each time your child finds a riddle question or answer be sure to have him/her read it out loud so you can enjoy it too.

If your child doesn’t read yet then you can either read out the directions to your child or just make them up off the top of your head.  This game would be really fun for toddlers.

*This activity can be altered for any kind of questions and answers that you think would interest your child. Try this out the next time your child has to study for a test!*

Two Kisses And A Wish

Fostering a love of reading in your child is only one part of the big education equation.  A child must also learn to write well. Unfortunately, writing is frustrating for many children. It’s difficult for a child to put all of his/her thoughts down on paper and to have it all make sense. Many times that’s even difficult for an adult to do.

So, how can you help a child relax and take any critiques you have about his/her work as a loving suggestion and not an attack? My sons’ fourth grade teacher Mrs. W has found a way to constructively critique a child’s work with love and kindness. She calls this method, Kisses and Wishes.

In Mrs. W’s class, a child is called upon to read a story that he/she wrote. Once that child is finished reading, the class then offers two kisses and a wish as a form of a critique. The kisses are compliments or what the children liked about the story. The wishes are something that the children feel was missing from the story or something that could be added to it to make it better.

Kisses and Wishes offers a gentle and respectful way to communicate with a child about what was special about his/her story, and also what could be done to improve it. You could use this method in the classroom or at home with your own child/children.

Consider also, that this lesson could be applied to many other areas of our lives as well. Our world would definitely be a brighter place if we consistently nurtured our children with two kisses for every wish.

*A special thanks to Mrs. W for inspiring this post*

Tell Me Something

It is important for a child to have an active imagination. An active imagination is one that can see past the boundaries our world currently has in place. Inventions such as the television, radio, and telephone exist because the inventors had active imaginations and were able to picture something that had never existed before. Imagination is also why stories such as whimsical fairy tales exist. A child’s imagination is something to be nurtured and enjoyed; just be sure your child understands the difference between what is real and what is pretend.

To have fun learning about these concepts play Tell Me Something. If you are playing this game with a young toddler, first explain the difference between what is pretend and what is real.  Be sure to go over some examples with your child also. For the older children who already understand these concepts, this game allows them the freedom to use their imagination and tell you some amazingly entertaining things!

To play this game you can start off by stating something that’s pretend. When you’ve finished with that, ask your child to tell you if what you said was something real or pretend. If your child is not sure then explain why what you said was pretend. Next, tell your child something that could really happen, something real.

Now it’s time for the fun stuff. Have your child tell you something either real or pretend. When he/she is finished it’s your turn to tell your child if what he/she said was real or pretend.

This game can be played by simply stating a sentence, or you can develop entire stories to showcase each concept. It is especially fun to make up your pretend stories and to hear the imaginative stories a child comes up with.

You can adapt this game to teach other concepts as well such as:

• Tell Me Something Safe / Tell Me Something Dangerous
• Tell Me Something Hard / Tell Me Something Easy
• Tell Me Something Wrong / Tell Me Something Right

You can also adapt this game to teach other things such as emotions:

• Tell Me Something Happy / Tell Me Something Sad

Whatever version of this game you decide to play, keep in mind that you are not only helping your child to develop his/her creativity but also teaching him/her some valuable lessons as well.

Interactive Reading – Let The Games Begin!

Games are fun and kids love to play them,  so how about bringing a book and a game together to make for an amazing reading experience. Here are some great ways to make any book an interactive one:

Play “What Happens Next” - Pick out a book and read through it. You can read the book to your child or if your child is already an independent reader  this would be a great opportunity to have your child read aloud to you. Keep in mind that a story doesn’t have end at the end of a book. Keep the story alive by adding more to it and transform the story you just read into something silly, sad, strange or whatever you like. Just let your imaginations run wild.

You can take turns doing this with your child or if you have several children then you could have each one take a turn and add another event to your evolving story. This would also make a great activity to do in the classroom.

If you plan to read a chapter instead of a whole book you can still have fun by predicting what will happen next. You could keep this in the theme of the book if you like to help improve your childs feel for what happens next in a story.

Find The Bonus Word/Words - Picture this: You finally get to spend some quality time with your child and decide to snuggle up and read him/her a book. At first your child is interested but, after a while you don’t think you have his/her attention anymore. Has that ever happened to you? Of course it has!

Well, make what you read to your child more exciting by picking out a bonus word. Scan the book and find a word that is in several places throughout the book. Whenever you read the bonus word then have your child say something in response to it. For example think of the book ,The Three Bears. For the bonus word/words we’ll use Baby Bear and for the response word/words we’ll use He’s furry. Now every time your child hears you say, “Baby Bear” as you read, he/she responds by saying, “He’s furry!”

This is a great way to keep the attention of the little ones especially. If you try this I’ll bet your child will be listening really hard to find that bonus word  and you wont lose his/her focus while you read.

Show Me The Action – Sometimes its tough for kids to just sit still and listen so for a change of pace you can have your child act out all of the actions that you read about in the story. All of the running (in place of course), jumping, driving, whatever is going on in the story just have your child act out as you read.

This is also a great opportunity to teach about verbs, the action words in a sentence. For added fun you could video tape doing this with your child. I’ll bet that would be something your child would want to watch over and over again, and so would you.

I hope that you are inspired to try some new, interactive ways to read with your child.

*Please leave us comments about how your child/children enjoy their interactive experiences with books*

Loud And Clear

When was the last time you had your child read aloud to you? With our schedules being so busy these days its hard to find time to just sit and listen to your child read, especially if your child is already reading independently.

Having your child read aloud to you is extremely important since it allows you to be in touch with how their reading is progressing. Many children can read well enough to get by, but when made to read aloud might stumble on their words or possibly read each word as a single entity instead of a flowing sentence. Also, many children read with a robotic tone. Learning to use inflection in your voice when you read is an important skill that will only improve with practice.

A child usually wont have many chances to read aloud in school so it is up to you to make time for it. It’s not as difficult as you might think however. The trick is to listen to your child read while you are doing something else.

Do you travel around a lot? Listen to your child read as you go down the road. Are you often on the computer? That would also be a great time to have your child read to you. Think about it like this, any time you feel comfortable having the radio or television going on in the background would  be the perfect opportunity to have your child read to you for a while instead.

Do you prepare dinner? Try having your child read to you as you cook. This has worked very well for my daughter and me. Many nights as I start to prepare dinner my daughter will sit at the kitchen table and read to me as I work. I really enjoy this special time we spend together.

Remember, for the most part, you only need to listen to your child read to gain confidence in his/her reading ability. It isn’t necessary for you to be reading over his/her shoulder. Just listen and only help if help is needed. If your child gets stuck on a word have him/her sound out the word & if that doesn’t work have your child spell the word so you can help decipher it.

After your child has finished reading to you it is a great time to give out hugs and kisses and praise your child. This also gives you the perfect opportunity to give him/her feedback on what can be done to improve. If you notice that your child needs to use more expression when reading aloud then read passages from the book your child just read and show him/her what a huge difference it makes to alter your voice from high to low or convey sadness or excitement in your voice as you read. What ever your advice is to your child for improvement, be sure to give examples so your child is clear on how to improve.

With practice your child will become an expert at reading aloud and that is an important skill your child will utilize for the rest of his/her life.

What’s Your Favorite?

Think back to when you were a kid. (When I was a kid I had to heat up my Chef Boyardee on the stove top and when I needed to call someone I had to use tin cans.) Well, more specifically think back to what your favorite book was as a child.

My favorite book as a kid was Old Hat New Hat by Stan & Jan Barenstain. My brother and I used to read that book over and over again. We read it so many times and knew it so well that we used to have contests to see who could read it the fastest. You would be amazed at how fast we could breeze through that book! It was really hilarious and when I think back to that time it always makes me smile.

So, do you remember what your favorite book was? Good! Now go on and  find that book so you can experience it with your child.

But wait, there’s more! As a way to preserve this precious time you could video record yourself and/or your child reading this book aloud. What a fun way to preserve that special memory! You could also audio record the event so your child could play it back whenever he/she likes. Be sure to snap a picture of your trip down memory lane also.

I hope that now you are inspired to resurrect your old favorites and maybe by doing this you wil be introducing your  child to a new favorite as well.

*Please check out our comments to this post. Be sure comment also and  let us know what your favorite book was as a child.*

Simple Rewards

When my youngest son was six years old he developed an aversion to going to sleep at night.  He said he was too scared to go to sleep and just couldn’t seem to relax, and since he couldn’t relax then I couldn’t either. He made sure of that!

Since he had never had a bedtime problem before, I thought it would just be one of those phases that would quickly pass. Well, it didn’t pass quickly enough for me. After a couple of weeks of him sneaking down the stairs, getting his eighth drink of water, or falling asleep on the bathroom floor (Eeeww!) I knew that I had to do something to help him feel more confident and relaxed at bedtime.

So, one night as I was tucking my son into bed I told him that if he was brave and stayed in bed all night long like he used to, that I would make up a poem for him about his accomplishment in the morning. I was really just grasping at straws here. Amazingly, it worked! He stayed in bed all night long, and first thing in the morning he asked for his poem.

I made up something silly and he loved it. I just spouted off something like:

Wow, you did it, you stayed in your bed. If I could manage, I would stand on my head. I would shout from the rooftops and spin on the floor until you started laughing and begging for more.

Well, it was just silly ramblings but he loved it. I did this for about a week, coming up with different funny poems every morning he went to bed without a problem. He did stay in bed every night thereafter, looking forward to my silly poems in the monings. After about a week of that, I told him I was going to write him an official poem and print it out for him because now he has shown how brave he is and stays in bed every night.

This is what I wrote:

Jacob the Brave
I’ll call you by name
Since you found courage
Things haven’t been the same

No longer the boy
Who is scared in your head
Jacob the brave
Always stays in his bed

I am so proud of you
My Jacob the Brave
My courageous boy
Who has learned to behave

Love, Mommy xoxo

This just goes to show that you don’t have to reward your kids with candy or toys.  You can use words.  Simple words.   Sometimes that’s all it takes.

*Please see our comments on this post for more tips and please leave some tips of your own to pass along*

Letter Of The Day

If you are trying to teach your young child the letters of the alphabet or letter sounds, then this one is for you! Pick a letter to focus on all day long and find that letter wherever you go throughout the day.

For added recognition, an adult can write the letter of the day on the childs hand so that the letter is facing him/her. If you don’t want to write on your childs hand directly than you could purchase blank stickers and stick it to the childs hand after writing the letter on it. Either way you go keep trying to find that letter all day long.

In the morning repeatedly bring attention to the letter name as well as its sound and give examples of words with that sound. In the afternoon ask your child questions such as:

What is our letter today?
What sound does the letter make?
What word begins with that letter?

Possible lessons for the more advanced child:

What words end with that sound?
What words have that sound in the body of the word?

No matter what level your child is, this in a great way to introduce or reinforce letter recognition/phonics to your child in an enjoyable way.

Please share with us what works well for your child.

Five Ways To Get Your Child Excited About Reading

Getting children to read for enjoyment can be a daunting task. With all of the electronic gadgets out there just clamoring to get a childs attention it is imperative that we make reading a fun alternative to all of those other choices. Here are some ideas to help you do just that.

1. Get to know your local library - There are so many wonderful offerings, for all ages, at libraries across the country. Look into what’s available in your area and plan to attend the activities you believe would interest your child.

2. Let your child choose their own books - This can be tough sometimes but it’s important that you give your child some control. You don’t however need to let go of the reigns completely. To expand the reading horizons for your child you can negotiate a deal such as; for every two books your child picks that you get to pick one. Or perhaps, for every two fiction books your child picks, they must choose one non-fiction book to read.

3. Pick a theme – What is your child interested in right now? What do you think your child would be excited to learn more about? Pick a theme to focus on for one week and use this opportunity to not only choose books to read on that subject, but also to make crafts, draw pictures, make a collage or even cook up some recipes surrounding it. Example:Your child just lost a tooth so you choose several fun books on that subject. You could even expand on that theme by adding books about going to the dentist. For an activity, your child could cut out pictures of teeth, lips and mouths out of old magazines to make a collage. For a recipe: Cut an apple into 10 wedges. Have your child spread peanut butter one side of a wedge and then add some little marshmallows or raisins on that to act as the teeth. Finish off with another apple wedge on top and your finished product looks like a mouth!

4. Start your own private book club - Contact everyone you know about participating in your exclusive book club where the kids can get together and either agree on a book they will all read and then discuss it. Or, another option would be to just tell all of their friends about a favorite book he/she read recently. Encourage your child to pick a name for this club and even make signs for it.

5. Praise your child for reading - When you notice your child reading anything, even the back of a cereal box, be sure to praise them. If your child picks up a book and starts reading on their own, be sure to let him/her know how proud you are.

6. Bonus! Read to and with your child several times a week - Even if your child is a capable of reading on his/her own it is important to listen to your child read to help with proper pronunciation and to teach your child about adding emotion to his/her voice while reading.

Enjoy nurturing your child’s inner bookworm.

*Please see our comments on this post for more tips and please leave some tips of your own to pass along*